I’d been posting up portraits of my favourite film stars in various media for the past year (for my own pleasure… since my primary focus has been doing my graphic novel). I’d been sharing them on Facebook, which caught the attention of Greg Dexter, general manager of the Radlett Centre. He suggested to me that I might like to have my own exhibition at the venue. This is a year ago and I can hardly believe how quickly it’s come round.
I made the decision to use artwork I’d made already with a few surprises for the exhibition.
Time more than anything was the chief constraint. The best way to present my work, which has a pop art feel to it, was to reproduce them as digital canvas prints and sell them as a limited edition run.
My business partner Bob spent a good few hours hanging the sixteen canvases in the Apthorp Gallery… making a picture of the pictures. The spaces between the art were as important as the work itself. We grouped according to size and style and made sure we had price lists and names framed and visible on the walls too.
Small catalogues with thumbnails of the artwork were laid out for people to pick up along with flyers for my book “Elsie Harris Picture Palace” and a spiral bound Visitor’s Book with a pen attached for people to write comments.

The big night was Thursday March 12th when I had my private viewing night. I had three more canvases and a giant portrait to unveil on the night. Although things had not gone according to plan… those canvases did not arrive in time for the viewing so I had my contingency plan in place. I opted for having paper prints run up and framed and my giant canvas was a print mounted on poster board. Thank you Minuteman Press! The ‘star’ piece was my own immersive artwork… a portrait of Errol Flynn as Robin Hood and me as Maid Marian.
A whole new spin on the Selfie!

I was nervous as to who and how many people would show up to the event, as it is out of town though by no means inaccessible.
I was delighted to greet a steady influx of guests throughout the evening, which meant my next worry was… would we have enough food? But Georgie’s Cafe/Bar at the Radlett Centre delivered great refreshments.
It was really satisfying to see a good mix of friends, family, colleagues from the world of theatre and comics together. Lovely things were said (and recorded in the Visitor’s Book). I made my first sale to my actor/writer friend Julian Dutton who was taken with my Mucha style portrait of Gabrielle Ray, a Gaiety Girl from the 19th Century. (One of my few non-movie star pictures). I had interest from another gallery in exhibiting my work there and also sold a lot of my “It Girl” and “Vivacity” comics.

The exhibition is on till the end of March and now that I have dipped my toes in the waters of the art world I don’t think there’ll be any turning back. Please go and have a look if you’re in the area… I’d be happy to show you round if you let me know.

I am very grateful to Greg Dexter, manager of The Radlett Centre who saw me share my art work on Facebook and invited me to exhibit at this local arts centre.
I have quite a body of work to display considering my main focus has been on making comics and producing my graphic novel. But my art work has been all consuming as you all know. The positive side of an obsessive personality!
So I hope I will be seeing lots of friendly faces over the next month and at my viewing night on March 12th. There will be a catalogue with a full price list available at the exhibition and here on my website in due course. The art work is a collection of limited edition canvas prints of my digital work.
A very brief glimpse of some work for my graphic novel “Elsie Harris Picture Palace” will be on display too. There will be a dedicated exhibition for my comic art work coming up at Orbital Comics in August.
And my two best selling comics “It Girl” and “Vivacity” will be on sale too.
Look forward to seeing you there!

A very happy 2015 to you all!
I’m back home after a fantastic sojourn in ‘Elf’ the musical. I have been so busy I didn’t have time to blog about the fact I was even doing it. I played the step mom of the iconic Elf character in this UK premiere in the company of some wonderful actors including Ben Forster, Joe McGann and Aoibhinn McGinnity.

The whole season was an experience of collective innovation, good spirits and great talent. What a way to make a living!
I feel tired, obviously, gratified, and now a little daunted as I look at the task I have before me… the completion of my passion project “Elsie Harris Picture Palace“. Before I crack the whip and enter the chariot race, it’s time to look back over the events of the past year and see that it is possible to achieve quite a lot when you’re engaged in the work you love.
This time last year I was coming to the end of my panto run in Bromley. I was delighted with the way my comic career was taking off. “It Girl“, my first self-published comic was praised in reviews and selected as one of the Ten must own Comics of 2013 by Broken Frontier Press. This was followed up by a wave of terrific activity… sell out stocks in shops including Orbital Comics, GOSH! comics and Foyles Bookshop, invitations to collaborate on other independent projects suited to my style including “To End All Wars” and “To Arms“. I was asked to speak at Laydeez Do Comics and the GOSH! Process group, I had my first guest exhibitor experience at ICE Birmingham and also had my work exhibited at the Barbican for the “To End All Wars” book and at Orbital comics as part of their PC Horror Exhibition.
My biggest comic achievement of 2014 was being shortlisted for the Myriad Editions First Graphic Novel Prize which took me the British Library for the final announcement in May. “Elsie Harris Picture Palace” was then snapped up for publication by burgeoning cult television and film based publishing house Miwk Publications.
I’m almost out of breath just listing all these stand out events! My most recent accolade and crowning glory for 2014 is that my loyal and influential champion at Broken Frontier, Andy Oliver gave my latest comic “Vivacity” an outstanding review and selected it for the Ten Must Own Comics of 2014.
So I haven’t been dreaming my comic life… it really is happening.
Next on the calendar is a guest slot at the brand new True Believers Comic Convention in Cheltenham on February 7th and then my first solo art exhibition at the Radlett Arts Centre in March.
Hope to see some of you there!

We were given a stall in the Royal Armouries, same as last year but with a greater flow of traffic because of the breathing space with the additional exhibition area.
I found myself in celebrated company with Boulet and Hope Larson to my left and my friend Mark Buckingham to my right. And of course he had an ever increasing queue before he even arrived.
My trusty cohort Bob Wakelam had done a brilliant job packing all my burgeoning comic and art stock. It looked pretty impressive… two new comic banners, four boxes of comics, sets of about 20 different postcards plus my brochure and flyer handouts, copies of “To Arms” and “To End All Wars” as well. No one can say I’ve been napping this year.
The event is extremely well organised. I had Teresa Flavin (one of the many smiling volunteers) check that I had everything I needed and tweet a photo of me with my cargo. The doors opened at 10am and the queuing customers poured in. Of course there was a lot of non committal standing from afar, glancing over and mental toting up of comic spending budget before taking the plunge and buying a comic from a new supplier. I had success with “It Girl” last year but the majority of people who came to look and buy my goods were new to me and my books.
Familiar faces came by too… Steve White, Sean Phillips, Al Davison, Martin Eden,Jade Sarson, Nora Goldberg, Chris Thompson, Jay Gunn, Terry Wiley, Colin Mathieson but for the most part comic com-padres had to stay rooted to their pitches and make the most of one of the biggest independent conventions all year.
I managed to go for a mooch around. Couldn’t miss having a look at the steampunk tea emporium across the way… a massive pop up shop with the most incredibly creative array of comics, prints, boxes and all manner of merchandise lovingly constructed.
Over in the teepee I made the acquaintance of Des Taylor who does fabulous glamorous comic art work with a slightly retro animation feel. It got talking to Maxwell Oginni who is assistant artist to Des and animator for the Mr Bean cartoon series. He wanted to know all about my comic journey as he is just stepping into this world himself.
I had a lovely diversion at lunchtime as I had agreed to meet deaf musician and sign performer Paul Whittaker to collect a very special package. Earlier in the weekend I had put up a post on Facebook about James Mason (the model for my hero in “Elsie Harris Picture Palace“). Paul had commented that his family knew James Mason and he had a personal letter from him in his possession. Would I like it? And that he was in the Leeds area the following weekend. If that isn’t a huge rap on the door from fate, I don’t know what is. Paul has done signed performances for lots of musicals including the production of “Sunset Boulevard” that I played Norma Desmond in, so we had a lot to catch up on.
I also bumped into my immensely talented comic creator friend Jason Wilson aka Jay Gunn who had his finished portfolio of “Surface Tension” with him. Titan are releasing it in a few months and it is going to be extremely impressive. He had written, drawn and coloured it to a superlative level.
The cyclical theme of the year in comics was completed with an evening spent in the company of the wonderful Andy Oliver. He is responsible for advancing my profile and that of many small press comic creators for no other reward than the joy of giving new work a spotlight. It was his first visit to Thought Bubble and I know he greatly enjoyed being there and seeing his ‘discoveries’ flourishing.
I didn’t spend much time partying in the evening but I did get to meet Lisa Wood who goes by the name of Tula Lotay, illustrator for Image and Vertigo. She is the mastermind or should I say mistressmind behind Thought Bubble. It is no mean feat to have put this event on, be the director of Travelling Man comic shops and a star comic artist… ask a busy woman!
I couldn’t stay the whole weekend as I had to get to Plymouth for rehearsals on “Elf” but I still managed to sell some comics in the brief hour I spent on my stall on Sunday morning. I had good sales for both “Vivacity” and “It Girl” and made some new friends and connections.
So now it’s time for my other hat with performing over Christmas… then onto the main event… Finishing “Elsie Harris Picture Palace” ready for summer 2015!

So here I am, almost a year on from my comic debut at Thought Bubble. “It Girl” was the first of a burgeoning career in my new field of self expression. Since last year I have seen “It Girl” garner favourable reviews, sell out several times over in select comic and bookshops and managed to contribute to two anthologies and get shortlisted for the Myriad First Graphic Novel Fiction Prize 2014.
Tomorrow I will launch my second short film star comic. This time the star turn is that of young Vivien Leigh.

I have chosen to focus on her meteoric rise to stardom playing Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind“. My art style in this comic is very different to “It Girl“. All the pages are rendered entirely in pencil and darkened digitally.
It is still a voyage of discovery in terms of technique and I have much to thank my wonderful mentor Mark Buckingham for in terms of guidance.
This has to be a short blog but there is a lot to catch up on which I will be doing in the coming weeks. Forgive the retrospective diary keeping that will be a necessary part of this but it’s important not to forget the who, what and where of what is proving to be an incredible time of adventures for me.
Two things I will be expounding on are my 2015 publication of “Elsie Harris Picture Palace” with Miwk Publishing and my imminent season of performing in the UK premiere of the Broadway musical “Elf”.
See you on here again soon!
Full report on Thought Bubble to follow!

Last Saturday I paid my first visit to the ELCAF Festival in Bethnal Green, London.
The event is always flagged on the calendar for Small Press Comic Creators from the UK and all over the world to tout their wares.
Hosted by Nobrow, it has more of a hipster feel to it than Thought Bubble but even an old square like me didn’t feel too out of place!
There were queues outside and the hall itself was packed to the gills.

Bob, my trusty partner in comic crime and I went purely for a look around and meet up with various friends. The talks were for the most part booked up. I would have loved to have been able to attend the Chris Ware talk. He is an American comic artist and giant of the independent comic scene. He also designed this year’s poster.
Saw some familiar faces on the Self Made Hero stall… David Hine and Mark Stafford still going strong with “The Man Who Laughs“, Rob Davis‘ “Don Quixote” and Jake’s “Hellraisers” all doing good business. Although I didn’t see him, Ian Culbard was there with his new book “Celeste“.Woodrow Phoenix was on the Blank Slate table with “Napoleon” amongst other works. I’m looking forward to seeing his giant one-off comic work on display at the British Library soon. Another face from the recent Myriad Prize evening was Ilya, who I spent time talking with about the importance of self promotion, even when your work is published.
Got to meet the prolific Darryl Cunningham who produces informative, important work in a really engaging way. He signed my copy of “Science Tales“, which I had on me. Also had a chance to meet Adam Caldwell of Great Beast publishing who are producing a range of terrific comics including his own “Blood Blokes“… his twist on the vampire genre which is original and very funny.
Two of my comic journo friends were also there. Andy Oliver from Broken Frontier will soon have to clone himself, as he is in such demand and lovely Alex Fitch from Panel Borders.
And then I also spent a good deal of time in the very inviting bar area outside with two of my ‘collaborators to be’ Philip Ebbrell and Bryan Lea. It was so hot you really had to go around the fair in shifts.
As per usual, came out with more goods than I’d intended to buy but what can you do? There are worse vices!
Think I will definitely try to get myself a pitch there next year.Might have to grow a beard!

This morning I received my second anthology ‘commission’ to date.
By coincidence… or is it? I have been invited to create a story for another World War One anthology called “To Arms” which is being crowd funded on Indiegogo.com.
Again a project with amazing artists involved.

I have decided to base my story on the military life of Sapper Dorothy Lawrence, the only woman to have gone to the Front in World War One.

A courageous and sad tale it naturally appeals to my taste for tales of girls who show gumption and daring.
I’ve started researching today.
Apropos of War stories, I gave myself a news report deadline this weekend when I was moved to create a one page story about World War Two veteran Bernard Jordan who slipped away from his care home to make his pilgrimage to Normandy for the D-Day celebrations.
That wraps up all the events to date. I’ll report back with more ‘happenings’ from the comic book front.
Over and out!

The day after the Myriad Editions Prize event I was pitching my wares to the customers at the London Burlesque Festival at Conway Hall. My good friend Jess Kemp had brought myself, Rian Hughes and Chrissie Nicholson-Wild together for this fun afternoon. Rian and I sought to distract ogling eyes away from the bevy of saucy ladies on the stage to come buy our ‘artistic’ offerings of comics and prints. I sold a respectable amount of “It Girl” which (if you’ve seen my Twitter page), you will know, continues to sell out at Orbital, Gosh and now the BFI.

Comic artist friend Chris Geary popped in to show moral support… if that’s the right terminology! He and I met up later in the week to attend the ever popular Orbital Comics life Drawing class hosted by Jason Atomic. This last one was themed “Leave Something Witchy“. Jason’s ridiculously gorgeous girlfriend (she has a comic book figure in real life!) was dressed in various garb that brought memories of The Wicker Man and Maleficent to life. The soundtrack was disturbing… a lot of chanting and Grace Slick style vocalising with lyrics more obscure than White Rabbit but we managed to produce some coherent art.
Looking forward to the next big drawing night at Orbital which will feature the legendary Steve Rude doing live painting.

Glory Be!
The middle of May I got the news that I had reached the shortlist of six entrants for the Myriad Editions First Graphic Novel Prize with “Elsie Harris Picture Palace“.
I was invited to attend a ceremony at the British Library where they are currently hosting the Comics Unmasked exhibition. Comics are definitely high profile at the moment.
My closer family were in attendance as were my loyal friends Mark Buckingham ( it was his birthday that night so I was highly honoured), comic artist Jason Wilson aka Jay Gunn and Michael Yale and his partner Andy.
The chosen six, Henny Beaumont, Francesca Cassavatti, Wallis Eates, Jade Sarson, Robert Wells and myself were all asked questions about our work and also read out extracts from our work whilst the pages were projected onto a big screen.
The final moment came when the big envelope was opened…and the winner was Jade Sarson for her quirky mangaesque romance “For the Love of God, Marie”. She is a highly talented young creator who has been making her own comics for a while and her prize was well deserved.
For the rest of us, we can carry on with our work confident that in being shortlisted we are worthy of being published. As to who and when, watch this space very closely!

That was very tough, as I was itching to share all the fun I’d had sharing a vocal booth with the legendary Tom Baker. He is larger than life physically and in personality. I’m sure everyone else was cursing the fact that I kept feeding cues to prompt Mr Baker into performing another spellbinding monologue about a chapter of his life. We won’t be producing actors with his rich, theatrical vocal quality any more. To think we almost lost him to the priesthood!
Anyway I urge you to go and purchase this classic Doctor Who audio drama which features the other stellar talents of Gareth Thomas, Louise Jameson and Blake Ritson.

About Jessica

Jessica Martin is an experienced actor, singer, impressionist and voice-over artist, specialising in theatre musicals, theatre TV and radio plays and TV and radio commercials.
A scriptwriter and artist, Jessica is now working on her first graphic novel as a writer and illustrator.

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